while changing my address at the bank i notice the clipboard
i signed in on is square the desk tops are square the partitions are
made up of three upstanding squares the computer monitors are flat
& square the filing cabinets are stacks of four squares the
picture frames are square the diplomas are square the ceiling tiles are
square every thing is made up of right angles everything is closed in
by four sides like a television screen like a tray in an operating room
like a jail cell like a corral like a casket like a 6 foot hole

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dead man waiting

i sit in this electric chair day in & day out my own
skull the cap & wires my own flesh the blindfold i sit in this
electric chair through circular saw blade afternoons strapped in by the
meat of my own wrists & ankles sweating & waiting for the final
charge i sit in this electric chair through rat razorblade nights
nimble nicotine fingers just loose enough to stroke the keys as i
wait for the fist shaped switch in my chest to be thrown